It was interesting and awesome to read about the origins of Bloom´s taxonomy, in 1948, a young Doctor (Dr. Benjamin Bloom, then only 35 years old but already a college examiner of the prestigious University of Chicago) met informally with a group of colleges and set forth in motion the production of the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, The Classification of Educational Goals, Handbook I: Cognitive Domain. The hierarchical classification system listed in a hand book published in 1956, more commonly known as “Bloom´s Taxonomy”. It is a classification system widely recognized and applied all over the world in the discipline of teaching, curriculum writing and learning theory, as well as content development, instruction and assessment (Seaman, 2008).
In 2001 a group of eight scholars worked in a revision of original handbook they had two objectives in mind: “refocus educator’s attention to the value of the original handbook”, and “incorporate new knowledge and thought into the framework”. The result was a revised handbook that emphasized that the revised taxonomy is not a sequence with sequential relationships as implied in the original framework; this revision takes a much more lenient application of the hierarchy, allowing for some overlap between categories so an emphasis is placed in teacher use as opposed to the development of the strict hierarchy. The popularity and international use of the taxonomy ensures that it will continue to be researched, studied, developed and used as a tool for planning and assessing educational objectives (Seaman, 2008).
Experts opinion is that Bloom´s taxonomy has not only stood the test of time, it will continue to make significant contributions to the field of education and this as teachers can help us to improve our classes using these cognitive approach tools to reach our students in addition to other considerations we made like learning styles, multicultural strategies and diverse needs.
We can improve and base our lesson plans in moving up our students through the Bloom´s taxonomy levels, focusing our efforts in helping our students to develop their critical thinking. We need students who can remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate and create so they can grow and prosper in school (and in life too!) building their own knowledge and developing all their potential. These are enough reasons to explore and research on this theory even though it is not part of our TKT book.
References
Seaman, M. (2008). Bloom´s Taxonomy. Curriculum & Teaching Dialogue , 29-43.
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